Man City facing a fight to sign exquisite £47m playmaker

However, the club sporting director Klaus Allofs has affirmed that if any suitors do move for the attacking midfielder, they may have a fight on their hands, with the Wolves not keen to offload the former Chelsea man.

“We do not want to sell him, but it is possible that there will be an offer in the next days,” Allofs said, as reported by Sky Sports.

“But all the same, we want to keep him in our squad. We want to build a strong team and Kevin is supposed to be a big part of it.”

Allofs proceeded to indicate that should any club move for De Bruyne, the German side had plans in place to try to keep him at the club: “Anything can happen in football. We are a club which has multiple preconditions in line to convince him to stay.”

Sky Sports reported earlier this week that the Sky Blues had made a £47 million bid for the player, although it remains to be seen whether this kind of fee would tempt the Champions League contenders to sell one of their prized assets.

Now 23, a move to City would represent a return to the Premier League, where he previously failed to establish himself at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho.

However, the playmaker has demonstrated his class in Germany—scoring 10 goals and contributing 20 assists last term—and would likely be given much more opportunity to demonstrate his worth should he make a comeback to England.

De Bruyne started for Wolfsburg in their opening Bundesliga fixture, a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt this weekend.